thop sue he here in half an hour blah good evening, and welcome to "world news." as we come on the air tonight, we are heading for a showdown in the giant arab country america has counted on for decades in the middle east. protesters in egypt have called for a million-man demonstration tomorrow. the reverberations are being felt across this entire map, the entire middle east and you can see it in the firestorm of twitter messages we followed all day long, messages from every country asking, what is next and where? in the headlines from egypt today, a key statement, the egyptian army vowed it will not fire on fellow egyptian protesters. the egyptian government scrambling to let some of the pressure out of the valve

promised to hold elections in coming weeks, and, of course, all of this has a major impact on the united states right now. thousands of americans racing to get flights out of egypt, the land of the pharaohs and so much tourism. and tonight on "world news," we'll be answering these key questions. will all of this create more terrorism against the united states? will rising oil prices affect gasoline and the economy here? and what about all those messages being sent planning protests in other places, demonstrations all the way, as we said, from libya moving in a wave across this region to syria and beyond. it is a day of fast-moving developments, and so we turn first to abc's christiane amanpour who has been covering the middle east for more than 20 years and has been to egypt more than a dozen times and tonight she is right here in cairo in the middle of it all. christiane, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, diane. the army has vowed not to use force against the egyptian

people and, therefore, answering a key question of what would happen if they were given those orders. the curfew seems to mean nothing even now we can hear protesters chanting behind us, and it started early this morning. day seven of the protest in egypt. the army began with a strong show of force. more tanks and armored vehicles and more foot soldiers trying to halt the traffic of protesters. can you explain to me what's happening? soldiers and police tried to block off the protesters from getting into the square. we're not allowed to film on pain of having our cameras and film taken. we're not allowed to go into the square, nor are the demonstrators. we spoke to an army captain who doesn't want to go on camera but who told me that his orders are to maintain discipline and to seal the square. but it didn't work. within hours people were flooding back.

we got caught up in this crowd as they tried to enter the square. inside there was no violence but plenty of pent-up rage. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: and if that sounds like a primal scream, it is. this is the first time in 30 years that these people have been able to tell their president what they really think of him. president mubarak swore in his new cabinet today and ordered his new vice president to start talking to the opposition. but each step he takes to try to placate these people just seems to further infuriate them. the public face of the opposition is this man, mohamed elbararadei, who was mobbed by the crowd last

night. he is the former chief of the iaea, the u.n. nuclear agency and a nobel peace prize winner. >> first accept he has to go. the second step, we have to have a government of national salvation then prepare for election and move on to democracy. >> reporter: the people here also have more practical concerns. banks have been closed for days which means the atms have run out of cash and there are long lines for necessities like gas and groceries but despite the hardship the crowd here insists that there is no turning back. >> i was one of the sleeping majority, and now i wake up. >> and, christiane, now a million tomorrow, a million waking up and moving in tomorrow. tell us more about what you've learned that the government is going to do. >> reporter: well, hopefully the protesters want a million people here, but the government has said that they want to stop that and they're saying that this

will be stopping the trains coming into cairo. diane? >> we will be back to you later in the broadcast, christiane, thank you. of course, there are thousands of american, so many of them tourists and students, racing to get out of egypt tonight. more than 1,200 were evacuated on flights today running low on food and water in an airport scene that promises to play out for days to come. abc's lama hasan has some of their stories. >> reporter: the first evacuees have started arriving in athens, istanbul and cyprus on charted flights organized by the u.s. state department. >> it's nice to be out of egypt right now. >> reporter: but they are the lucky ones. thousands remain in standstill traffic or stranded at the airport. >> it's complete chaos in the airport. >> reporter: in cairo at 6:00 a.m. this morning, hudson smith and his son were packing up desperately trying to get home to atlanta. >> it's been kind of crazy so it's time for us to get on a plane and go home. >> reporter: the airport ride isn't an easy one. >> even if you have a flight booked, it's really difficult to

get out of the city because there are army checkpoints everywhere. they keep stopping us and checking our cars. >> reporter: when we finally got there, we were told we couldn't film so we used our camera in secret. we found long lines and frustrated people. >> i just want to confirm that my flight is canceled. >> reporter: it was canceled like so many flights today. long lines, tired, frustrated passengers, some of whom have spent days living at the terminal. did you sleep in the airport? >> yeah, we were sleeping here. >> reporter: where? >> just on the floor and on the benches. >> to weeks in egypt. we didn't get to see the pyramids. >> reporter: for the hundreds stuck here, there is no food or water. >> cooking our own hamburgers at the burger king maybe is an option. >> reporter: the embassy is working hard to get its citizens out. nick kourides is studying arabic at the american university in cairo. >> they've told us now that they're trying to get us out by tonight and it's going to be a late night. >> reporter: news his mother in new york has been waiting to hear.

>> we're certainly very pleased with the results. it's the most you can hope for in a difficult situation. >> reporter: but for the smiths who gave up after spending more than seven hours at the airport, they headed back to their hotel room and hunkered down for another night. >> it's just a matter of have ing perseverance and doing -- staying with it. >> reporter: the smiths will be trying to get on a flight again tomorrow. as for their u.s. citizens waiting at the airport, we spoke to the embassy tonight and they told us they will be ferrying supplies to them as food and water. diane? >> food and water on its way, thank you, lama hasan. and now what about the key questions for the americans abroad and the americans here at home? will this crisis in egypt give a body blow to the american economy, and does it mean more terrorists deployed against the united states? martha raddatz, another of our experts on the region and american security, weighs in. >> reporter: the scene from these streets may be

inspirational to some, but for america it comes with concern. first, if mubarak falls, will america be less safe? egypt has been a key partner in cracking down hard on al qaeda and other radical islamist groups. capturing and sometimes brutally interrogating them by the thousands, but then passing on the intelligence to the u.s. if a leader less sympathetic to america takes over or even worse payoff settles in, look out. >> al qaeda wants to create a pro-al qaeda government in cairo. if there is a change in the regime there, they will look for a way to begin that process. >> reporter: and the fears go beyond terrorism to oil. what might happen to the price of oil? egypt does not export oil, but it refines massive amounts and, most importantly, is one of the world's most critical transit

points. more than 1 million barrels of oil per day are pumped through the sumed pipeline, and nearly 2 million barrels pass through the suez canal. if those routes were closed, you would have to add 6,000 miles to the journey meaning time and money, which could directly affect our gas prices. >> that would mean prices going up. it could be anywhere from 10 cents a gallon to something substantially more than that. >> reporter: the effects are already being felt because of the instability there. in fact, listen to this. gas prices are expected to increase 10 to 20 cents by the beginning of march, diane. exactly what we don't need. >> so it's already under way. okay, martha. well, all of this only adds to as you know to the obama administration's high-wire. their very high diplomatic tightrope. how to stay close to an ally in a fragile part of the world and still embrace the egyptian people's call for democracy. jake tapper is at the white

house tonight. what is the latest from there, jake? >> reporter: diane, the obama administration has dispatched a former ambassador, frank wisener, who was ambassador to egypt during the reagan and bush sr. years. he's on the ground there talking to egyptian officials about political reform. i asked is he there? is frank wisener there to gingerly show mubarak the door and the white house would not answer that question. >> but nonetheless have you detected a shift in tone? which direction? >> reporter: absolutely. it seems to be much more towards preparing for mubarak to leave. you hear president obama talk about an orderly transition. secretary of state clinton said the same thing on the sunday shows yesterday, an orderly transition. now, the administration says they're not talking about a transition necessarily away from mubarak being the president of egypt, but one think tank expert on egypt who visited with national security staff today said that she thought all this talk of an orderly transition is president obama signaling to

mubarak directly that it's time for him to step down, diane? >> so many ways of shakespearian drama, jake. thank you. reporting from the white house. and before president obama, four other u.s. presidents dealt with hosni mubarak, who has held on to power for three decades, so who is this 82-year-old who has been such a survivor politically and every other way? here's john donvan. >> reporter: 30 years ago he wasn't the dictator, he was the understudy watching a parade with then egyptian president anwar sadat who was about to die. arguably it was the assassins who attacked the front seats killing sadat who gave mubarak his moment. look, he was first to stand up, though slightly wounded in the hand and constitutionally next in line as vice president it was he who took the oath of office days later then 30 years went by. here's what he's been through with the u.s. all those years,

about the most loyal ally and an opponent of extreme islam who sent his own forces into battle against saddam hussein when we asked in 1991, whose view of saddam was pretty much ours. >> i had a feeling that something is abnormal in him. >> sounds like a definition of crazy. no? >> reporter: but this primarily military man comfortable with generals but not charismatic as a civilian, relatively private about life with his british-born wife, even his appearance over decades has had a distant unchanging quality to it, he has led a people whose apparent destiny has remained n unchanged, as well. to live on $2 a day and where the police have power to torture and watch a tiny elite amass extreme wealth and although a younger more engaged man offered this piece of advice 20 years ago when he asked if he feared assassination -- >> nobody is going to live forever. >> reporter: forever is what his time in power has come to feel like for people ready for forever to end.

john donvan, abc news, washington. >> and one demonstrator said he is waiting for us to get tired. we will not get tired. still ahead on "world news," how americans are muscling up in the hours before the biggest storm yet strikes three-quarters of the country. and a personal conversation even with some people you'll recognize about caregiving for the elderly and families on the brink. how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.95? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius.

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proportions. as one meteorologist put it, just stay home. in the center is chicago where we find weather editor sam champion tonight. >> reporter: tonight the head of fema is issuing a rare warning, the kind usually reserved for the worst disasters. >> this is not something sneaking up on us. it's been well forecasted. we know it's going to be bad. prepare like it's bad. >> reporter: the biggest winter storm of the season comes in two parts. tonight, a lighter snow in the midwest and tomorrow a monster storm barreling in right behind it. blizzard warnings are already out for at least seven states. it's expected to be a 2,100-mile-long path of sleet, snow and ice from the southern plains into new england affecting nearly 100 million people. some places may also see up to an inch of accumulating ice making driving impossible, potentially downing power lines and toppling trees. >> just a quarter of an inch of ice can cause us quite a bit of damage. we have identified mutual

assistance crews to bring in, and we'll be mobilizing those crews yet today. >> reporter: chicago has been spared heavy snow so far this winter, but by wednesday the storm could dump up to 12 to 18 inches rivaling a blizzard of 1967 when 23 inches of snow crippled the city. tonight, good advice if you're in the path of this storm, stay off the roads. >> this time we may be potentially dealing with a storm of historic proportions. >> reporter: and this, the biggest snowstorm of the season, has some impressive snowfall totals. just take a look at the graphic here and we'll show you how far it goes. detroit is expecting about a foot. indy, near indy coming up with a foot and, diane, places like tulsa and oklahoma city really aren't used to hearing the words blizzard. >> oh, sam, thank you for reporting and being in chicago, and we've said it so many times before this winter, be careful, everyone. again, be careful. this is the real deal.

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78 million americans are going to -- will start reaching the age of 65. who is going to take care of them? we only have i think 7,000 or 8,000 geriatricians in america. >> and going down. >> and going down in number. >> less than 3% of u.s. physicians have had even an hour of training in geriatrics. and the nursing assistants who take care of our oldest and frailest who are in the nursing home, they have about the same amount of preparation to do that as a school crossing guard. >> and that's why the burden has fallen on the caregiver, right? they're not able to collect insurance money. they are not reimbursed for their expenses in any way or their time. >> reporter: and almost 70% of the caregivers are women, with studies showing the constant stress takes as much as ten years off the caregiver's life from -- >> increased depression, increased health risk for the caregiver herself. >> reporter: so our panelists said, old and young, it's time to start talking about taking care of mom and dad. what's the right age? >> well, my 12-year-old asks me all the time, and i'm 51.

let me tell you how not to have the conversation because this is the mistake i see a lot of people make. the thing not to do is walk in and say, you know, the siblings and i have all had a conversation, and we found this great place for you, and we are putting your house on the market, and here's where you're going. you know, go in and ask questions and listen. what are you concerned about? what do you worry about? what do you hope for? what would you like? >> i had the conversation with my daughter. okay, i have one child. we've already talked about all the forbidden subjects, the wills, oh, my gosh, you know, i'm not at all afraid of any of these thing because i am -- you know, i'm prepared. i'm prepared i think, and you also have to say, you know, when to pull the switch, when to pull the plug. all those things. >> that's a whole other hour conversation. i can really get going on that. >> but, but -- >> what's the headline on when to pull the plug? what do you say? what did you say to your daughter? >> when i can't -- when i can't operate anything. when i can't roll out a pie

crust. >> reporter: then i'm toast. over the next four days we'll cover everything from car keys and siblings to medication. >> the average older person sees 11 doctors a year. 11. >> when you get to 10 drugs whether they're over the counter or prescribed there's a good likelihood that there's a drug-drug interaction. >> we'll tackle how the generations old and young get ready for it together. one thing you'd say to everybody out there watching who is feeling that the tsunami is already on them in their lives. >> i myself when my mother died was really grateful for the time that we spent together, and so it's important to step back and appreciate some of that because you won't get it back again. >> be modern in your thinking. work with a doctor or a hospital that can aid you in all of these challenges. this country absolutely needs to pay attention. >> to pay attention and begin

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and finally tonight, a reminder that what is unfolding across egypt is not just a political drama but a human one and, as christiane amanpour witnessed, history for one family. >> reporter: diane, that is exactly right. of all the extraordinary scenes, one particularly poignant moment in liberation square today, a family, a man and his wife and two small kids, 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, came to the square, and the man told me he wanted his children to see this moment. he said that he felt safe enough now to bring the children to this protest, to this rally, and afterwards, after they had been there for several hours, they walked off. they went home as dusk fell, and they walked right past an army personnel carrier and the

military who did not interfere with them, as they have not all day long. diane? >> and someday they will be talking about that walk and that moment. thank you, christiane amanpour, and for all of us at abc news, continue to watch the unfolding events in egypt as we continue broadcasting throughout this evening. have a good night, and we'll see you tomorrow. ab and a painful combination of budget cuts and tax existence. >> and support for embattled oakland police department. >> and and san francisco's big

dig. >> the sunway project about to get underway and impact it will have on all of use and a veterinary exam requiring the doctor to have plenty of patience. >> good evening. >> a message focused on the budget crisis and and there is details of the speech governor brown warned california will not be able to create jobs unless kit get its financial house in order urging the passage of the budget relying on spending cuts and extension of temporary tax hikes five more years and says this is not the time for politics as usual. and democrat goesing to have to swallow more cuts that are